Akron Symphony Orchestra Season Opener: Mahler's "Titan"

Name: Akron Symphony Orchestra Season Opener: Mahler's "Titan"
Start: 2025-09-20T19:30:00-04:00
Location: E.J. Thomas Hall at the University of Akron

Schedule

Sat, 20 Sep, 2025 at 07:30 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

E.J. Thomas Hall at the University of Akron | Akron, OH

The season begins with an electrifying evening of symphonic grandeur. Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture is a jubilant celebration of popular song, including the universally recognized “Gaudeamus igitur.” Angela Cheng, Oberlin Conservatory Professor of Piano, then takes center stage for Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto, a rarely heard work of deep lyricism and virtuosic brilliance.
Then for the finale, IMAGINE…
You walk back into the concert hall, the lights dim, and there’s this hush in the air. Then… a single note, barely more than a whisper begins to float through the room. It’s not just music, it’s like the whole hall is holding its breath. That’s how Mahler’s First Symphony begins!
From there, it’s a journey for your senses. It’s all of nature waking up, folk dances that feel both familiar and strange, and a funeral march that’s somehow playful and a little absurd. By the finale, the orchestra is in full, thunderous roar… horns literally standing and blasting toward the heavens.
Mahler’s “Titan” isn’t “polite background” classical music. It’s big, it’s messy, it’s human! It’s the kind of performance that can move you to your soul if you let it. If you’ve never heard an orchestra up close, this is the one to start with. And if it’s been a long time? This will make you wonder why you ever stayed away.